Jeff Skoll

IMPACT MAN: EBAY BILLIONAIRE; SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP KINGPIN

We are on the cusp of a clean-energy economy, where energy is essentially costless, abundant and safe, with no externalities, no health costs, no Deepwater Horizons. Around the world, solar has done what looks like Moore’s Law. Wind has done somewhat the same, coming down to a competitive place. And to finish the trifecta, there’s a step change in batteries about to hit the world next year. I would liken the clean-energy revolution to the industrial revolution, just happening faster. The numbers are staggering.

Having clean, inexpensive, sufficient energy that’s not controlled in some government’s hands or some big business’ hands helps solve a couple of the giant threats coming down the pike. Climate change, obviously, is a biggie— this stuff doesn’t solve it, but it mitigates it. In terms of water issues, if you have enough clean energy and you have access to an ocean, you can desalinate and then pipe that desalinated water where you need it, and grow food in deserts that previously couldn’t sustain agriculture. In the Middle East, there’s a lot of conflict over water as well as refugees and displacement. Clean tech may also cover some of the issues with nuclear proliferation. There’s no need to build new nuclear plants, so why would anyone build one except for weapons? On the pandemics side, people living in better living conditions with more plentiful health and food options are less likely to be struck with diseases that become epidemics that become pandemics.

The clean-energy economy can happen in the next 10 years. So when I think out 100 years, we’re either going to be in a world of extreme abundance and peace and prosperity where people live these glorious lives, or we’re going to be toast. It’s one or the other.